STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. --- Capodanno Boulevard, a main thoroughfare that threads through Midland Beach, Ocean Breeze and South Beach -- now known as Zone A -- was hardly deserted at 9 Sunday night.

Nor were most houses in the low-lying beach area.

This despite constant pleas, and then demands, from Mayor Bloomberg that people in Zone A had to leave.

"We've seen it before," said Tommy of Olympia Boulevard in South Beach. "We heard the same thing for Irene last year,"

House lights were on throughout the three communities, cars parked in driveways, and right on Capodanno -- the front line for the wall of water supposedly headed this way.

Delis, pizza and sandwich shops were all open. Patrons enjoyed drinks at the bar in Toto's on Capodanno, with a clear view of the already-angry surf slapping against the man-made dunes along the beach.

At the Ocean Breeze fishing pier, two dozen cars sat in the parking lot, their owners on the pier and the boardwalk waiting for that wall of water.

"I wanted to see how bad it was," said Peter, from Ocean Breeze. "From what we are hearing on TV, tomorrow night will be the time to be here."

Houses that were boarded up for Irene last year were without the plywood protection this year.

"I spent a fortune to have the house closed up last year," said one Ocean Breeze resident. "And nothing happened."

"I'm hoping for the same this year."

Hurricane Sandy hits South BeachWaves were already approaching the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Boardwalk in South Beach around 9 a.m. Monday. Around two dozen people braced themselves against the wind wand walked the boardwalk, taking pictures and watching the waves.

The Hilton and Hampton Hotels -- both, ironically, located in Zone A on the West Shore -- were hopping Sunday night. Both were sold out and a few guests were actually from low-lying areas -- in South Amboy, N.J. "We're a block from the Raritan," said one former Islander who found his way back to the Hilton.

Another couple -- one half of which is a former Richmond resident now living in Manhattan, had to flee their downtown apartment. He still works on Staten Island.

"The elevators in our building were shut down, the subways were shut down, the ferry is shut down -- and who knows what would happen with the bridge."

A Staten Island family -- including a sister, brother dog and cat -- had to leave their home on Mayberry Promenade in Annadale when a police car drove down the street and urged evacuation.

Michelle Burriesci, the Annadale mom, said they decided to leave long before the police came and headed straight for the Hilton.

"I live right across the street from the ocean," she said. "With the kids, I had to."